First off, CONGRATULATIONS(!); You’ve been accepted to one of the most attractive exchange programs that are offered by KI. And if You aren’t already excited about spending almost five months in the land of the free and the home of the brave, as sung in the Star-Spangled Banner (the national anthem of the US), let me tell You that You’re about the have the time of Your life! In this report I’ll try to summarize everything that I feel was essential to my preparations but also add some advice that I wish I had been given before leaving myself.

If you have any questions after finishing reading through this, feel free to contact me at: William.jonsson@stud.ki.se

Before leaving Sweden

After being accepted by both universities I felt that I had a thousand questions that I needed answers to straight away, however I learned quite fast that most things, even the most worrying, are going to be solved in time. A part in feeling less worried for me was the contact, an equivalent to what we swedes call a studie- och yrkesvägledare, that I was provided at Rutgers. Through the counseling that I was provided I had a bunch of questions being answered straight away.

One of the first things I was advised to do, and very true so, was to start browsing through all the different institutions and their respective professors. I knew before-hand that I wanted to approach those researchers who’s main field of research was metabolic disorders, preferentially in association to physical exercise and nutrition. I was also advised to, after looking through the list of different researchers, summarize my preferred researchers in something similar to a wish list and hand to my counselor at Rutgers, who in turn would approach the respective professors. (List of departments: http://www.rutgers.edu/academics/academic-departments-programs)

At about the same time as I was browsing through the different researchers and potential supervisors, I was informed that I needed to acquire an immunization record, in which all my different vaccinations would be showcased. Rutgers, and most schools in the USA as well as in the world, require incoming students to display a complete list of vaccinations against some of the most common diseases spread when sharing housing. My advice is to start looking through the required immunizations as soon as possible. (http://www.cityakuten.se/vaccination, http://health.rutgers.edu/who-are-you/incoming-students/pre-entrance-immunizations)

About the time when the autumn semester started I’d been put in contact with a potential supervisor, who had, which I learned afterwards, been very inquired by the fact that I was flying out from Karolinska Institutet, a world-renowned medical university. I was therefor able to start looking through the different housing opportunities I’d been given. When choosing housing, a key advice would be to try to request housing at the same campus as where the lab is situated.

As things like supervisor and housing etc starts to solve, there are going to be a bunch of official papers sent to you that are going to be signed, among these the DS2019. The DS2019 is what is used to request a visa at the American embassy and therefor the essential key to gaining access to America. As soon as these papers are acquired, use the step-by-step walk through at the American embassy’s web page to prepare for the interview. Make sure to start the visa application process in time, as bureaucracies like this are time consuming! (http://sweden.usembassy.gov/consulate/niv/visa.html)

One of the last things in the chain of preparations is the purchase of the ticket from Sweden to the US. Make sure to land at Newark airport since it’s far easier to access going to, and coming from, the university.

There are several other checkpoints in the prior-to-departing-period, however, these are relatively straightforward. 

Upon arrival, as I flew in to Newark airport, there was an easy transfer from the airport to the university. Even though the official move-in day wasn’t upon me, I had already made contact with one of my future roommates, who in turn said that he was actually in the apartment and I was therefor able to fly in and move in straight away. The transport from the airport was comprehensive and involved the NJ Transit commuter train and a short bus trip upon arriving to New Brunswick. 

As I arrived to the campus I was warmly welcomed by a current Rutgers student who I’d been talking to prior to my arrival. She guided me to my apartment, where I met my roommates and then showed me around in the city of New Brunswick. She also helped me with some first-time-shopping for food and aided me setting up in general.

The purpose of my exchange, as stated previously, was to work on my bachelor thesis. Therefor, I made time quite fast to set up an initial meeting with my supervisor. It was a very surreal feeling meeting the person that I’d been speaking to via Skype and e-mail for several months! Together we made sure to set off some days in association to my arrival during which I could prepare for the coming months. I used these days to attend some of the, by Rutgers offered, introductory courses on the student life at Rutgers, and make other general preparations.

These days came very handy, especially in regards of getting a student ID and an American phone number and other essential parts of the everyday life. (My advice on choosing cellphone account company would be T-Mobile, as they offer monthly contracts to the best price at the market www.t-mobile.com ).

I was initially worried in regards of my economy prior to leaving, However, I was quite relieved after the first couple of weeks as my extensive savings were in part unnecessary: the only real expense was the on-campus housing. This sort of housing is the most expensive (compared to trying to organize cheaper off-campus housing, that however can be extremely difficult to organize from across the other side of the Atlantic) but it’s the most reliable and simple form of housing. A side from the housing it’s relatively cheap to live as a student at Rutgers.

My advice on grocery shopping, my second largest expense, would be to try to join in on either roommates or someone at the lab with a car to drive to any of the nearby larger supermarkets, where it possible to get away with a week’s worth of food paying about $70-$80. 

As stated previously, the on-campus housing was offered in the form of apartments shared by four students. It was a very different experience sharing an apartment with four, in the beginning, complete strangers, and even more so sharing a bedroom with, in the beginning, a complete stranger. I experienced that, if you approach the roommates with an easy-going nature, there will be no problems getting a long, let alone becoming very good friends – my roommates definitely became like family!

A part in the preparations before leaving Sweden, I was offered to choose between different apartments, where I ended up choosing the Starkey Apartments. In my experience there was no real difference between the different apartments. I would however advice to try to choose housing in proximity to the lab where the work is conducted. (http://housing.rutgers.edu)

There is a discrepancy between studies at a higher level (university) in the USA in comparison to Sweden, as the bachelor degree in Sweden is awarded after three years, where as in the USA it’s instead awarded after four years of undergraduate studies. That being said, I was in part different from the other juniors (third year of college) as my semester was soely focused on conducting research and summarizing it in to a thesis.

When it comes to the actual work in the lab, my experience was that I was given a lot more responsibility as a student in the US compared to what I would have been given in Sweden. This could however be partly because of my supervisor being very trusting and that being her style of managing the group. I believe that my ambition and ideas also played a role in me being given the amount of responsibility that I was given.

The drawback of being given space to work on your own is that you have to deliver. This in turn is often synonymous with spending many hours each day in the lab/the animal facility. My advice therefor is to try to, being firm, trying to with the supervisor, set up a framework for the week-to-week workload. My biggest fear before arriving was that there would be some “American work ethic” where it’s mandatory to spend more than 10hours a day in the lab, however after conversing with my supervisor, my fear never came true.

Traveling to the USA for an exchange is very advantageous when it comes to language since the majority of the previous education in Sweden is in English. Adding this to the amount of exposure to English in the everyday life, there are no real language barriers to overcome. Additionally, Americans do in general have a positive outlook on a Swedish accent and it will therefor only serve in advantage.

Spending five months in an English speaking country did also serve to improve my written English and I became more fluent and comfortable writing scientifically.

Since I worked full time in the lab there were days during the week where I had little or nothing to do based on the planning of my experiments. I did therefor spent quite a lot of time at the rec (short for recreational) centers around the campuses. One of my biggest interests is also to workout and I was positively surprised by the enormous interest in sports in general. The rec center did therefor serve as a sort of platform where I met many of my friends that I still stay in touch with. Quite soon I’d been included in the family, or fraternity, that was constituted of the more frequent visitors at the gym. Throughout my stay at Rutgers I spent more or less every evening hanging out with the guys and girls from the gym. (https://www1.recreation.rutgers.edu)

Because of this, I would therefor urge you to not hesitate getting to know the people that you share interests with. It’s also good to know that Americans in general are friendly and open to get to know new people and make friends!

From a geographical stand point there is an obvious weekend activity: getting on the NJ transit and spend the whole day in NYC! This was one of the most amazing things with the weekends: being able to wake up, have a quick breakfast and take the express train from New Brunswick to NYC Penn Statation! The best thing was that it only took about 30 minutes. Imagine being able to get on a train right at campus and after 30 minutes step out of the train right in the middle of the Big Apple! Even though I spent at least one day each weekend throughout the semester I never grew tired of that city: the more you get to know the different parts of the city and their respective vibe the more you feel that there is more to get to know.

The best way to get to NYC from New Brunswick and back is using either the NJ transit express train (about $13) or take the bus (about $10, http://www.coachusa.com). Getting around NYC I would suggest buying a 24hour pass for the metro if you know you’re going to do a lot of sightseeing. Buying a NYC guide book is essential to learn how to get around all the sights. 

My top recommendations to do in order to get the NYC-feeling would be having a coffee in Washington Square Park, followed by a stroll down Broadway and having a pastrami sandwich for lunch at Katz’s delicatessen at East Houston Street.

All in all: there is no need to worry about boring weekends: they’re either spent working on the project at the lab with your collegeous or getting to know New Brunswick or any of the nearby big cities (NYC and Philly). 

I can never be thankful enough for the opportunity that I was given by KI and Rutgers to conduct the research for my thesis in the USA. I’ve developed my skills in the lab, grown very self-sufficient and met so many great people that’ve become very close friends.

At a professional level, this exchange enabled me to build a professional network in the USA, which some would call the epicenter and leading country in terms of medical research and especially the pharmaceutical industry. I’m sure that some of the colleagues I’ve gotten to know will serve useful in my future career and I think that I also will serve as an asset to them now that I’m some what Rutgers Alumni. I truly hope that this exchange program, that I was the first to take part in, continues on for many years to come and that the collaboration between Karolinska institutet and Rutgers University only grows deeper and wider. I wish for many more students to get the experience and personal development that this exchange gave me.